


We're All Made Of Stars

by IceQueenJules26



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Light Angst, Post-Canon, Searching for Aquarius' key, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25128100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceQueenJules26/pseuds/IceQueenJules26
Summary: Natsu is in love with Lucy, but he swore he wouldn't tell her before she gets back something very important to her: Aquarius' key...
Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia
Comments: 4
Kudos: 125





	We're All Made Of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> The conclusion of Nalu Week is here - Day 7: Smile!  
> This one's pretty close to my heart, mostly because Aquarius' story was really important to me and I'm still sad about it, but also because I wrote this while feeling bad about my writing. Sure, it's most definitely no good, but at least I wrote it and I posted it and I didn't quit.  
> I want to thank everyone who encouraged me to keep doing what I love the last few days, everyone who gave my stories kudos or bookmarked it - and especially to all the nice reviews (I'll reply to them individually when I finally have some time to do so). Thank you so much. It means the world.  
> Also, obviously, Thank you Nalu Week for organizing all of this! It was an amazing event!  
> That being said, I will probably not participate in the bonus days, which is a shame because I was incredibly excited for them. I had planned to post the first two chapters of my WIP, but my laptop might be on its last breath and needs instant fixing and I'm not entirely sure yet when I will get it back. If I get some confidence back I might still start posting that WIP after - at least if anyone would be interested?  
> Anyways, after five hours of rambling (so sorry), onwards to the story:  
> Title is from "Stars" by Pentatonix.  
> I hope you'll enjoy it!  
> [My Tumblr](https://icequeenjules26.tumblr.com)

Natsu had known Lucy for a long time by now. They had been through a lot together, through missions, battles and hardship. They had fought the evil man-dragon Acnologia, multiple times; they’d fought against Tartaros and they even went to war with his brother, the most powerful wizard of all time. 

He had left her alone for two years, yes, but in his defense, he thought their friends would still be there. If he would’ve known the guild would be disbanded he never would’ve left - and since then he’d beaten himself up for it every time she frowned. He knew it had been necessary, but that didn’t make it any easier for him. 

From the moment he met her, Lucy had always been a friendly, sunny person. She could get mad, sure, but she always came back to the ease and the cheerfulness - there just was this special kind of warmth in her, that _ light _ , that pulled Natsu in and made it hard for him to be apart from her. 

The thing the most special about her cheery nature, however, was her smile - that one, special smile she gave him when she was really, truly happy. When they had defeated their opponent or completed a mission or sometimes simply because he had done something nice for her. 

Despite everything they had to go through, she had always found her way back to that smile. Even after her father had died, even after he had _ left her for two years  _ like the damned idiot that he was, she had found it again, and she had looked up at him with that radiant smile and he had known, somewhere deep within, that everything would be okay. 

That was, until that fateful fight against Tartaros. 

They had made it out alive, sure, but at what cost? 

She had lost Aquarius in the process, and her smile had never been the same. 

After everything Lucy had been through as a child, after losing her mother and getting neglected or sometimes outright mistreated by her father, she had always been able to hold onto her Celestial Spirits, particularly Aquarius. Sure, the moody mermaid had rarely shown the love she truly felt for her Master, but she had been there through everything, and Natsu knew that her key had always given Lucy the strength to continue even in the toughest of situations. 

Now, that key was gone, the familiar weight missing from her hip, and even though she still had all the other keys and therefore wasn’t alone, her smile had just never again been quite as bright as it had been before everything had went down with Aquarius. 

Natsu hated it. 

To this day, he despised Mard Gear for doing this to his Luce. Because of him, her smile was lost, and Natsu had sworn to himself that he would do everything in his power to get her that key back. 

And only after that, only after she had found her special, radiant smile again, only after he had seen it for himself would he allow himself to do anything about his feelings for her - to tell her about them, first of all. 

So far, he had to congratulate himself for his endurance and patience. Sure, when he would eventually confess to her it wouldn’t be that easy, either; he still wasn’t entirely sure if she reciproked his feelings and her physical proximity alone was usually enough to make him lose his focus… But once he would be able to talk to her, things would be much easier for him. 

As it was, he constantly fought with himself, trying to keep from stepping over the line but at the same time, he had never specified that line for himself. Sure, he had set those restrictions, but he had never defined them in a way that gave a clear sense of right or wrong for specific actions. 

So now every step that he took he found himself questioning if it was still best friend behaviour or if he was breaking his own rules. Things like hugs, physical proximity, almost flirty remarks here and there, sleeping in the same bed - on one hand, there were reactions he probably wasn’t supposed to show strictly as a best friend, but on the other, they had done all those things before he had drawn the line. Going back from them was hard, almost impossible, really, if he didn’t want Lucy to get suspicious and sooner or later realize what he was doing. She would question him about it, and if there was one thing Natsu was truly bad at then it was lying to Lucy. 

He didn’t feel comfortable doing it, he didn’t like it himself, and usually, the celestial spirit mage could immediately sense something was up, sometimes before he had even opened his mouth. So, really, going back on anything wasn’t really an option. It would’ve probably been easiest for him to just stay away, to not get tempted, but he knew he definitely lacked the strength for that. One day without her and he would find himself dashing to her house the next morning, anxious to see her.

So he stayed - stayed and fought the overwhelming urge to kiss her whenever she would look at him with that cheeky expression, whenever she cooked for him, whenever he found her sitting at the bar, looking as beautiful as ever. 

It was hard, but it was bearable. He knew he would be able to kiss her, sooner or later, as soon as he found Aquarius’ key and she would smile at him again like she had used to - at least once. He couldn’t be sure if she would allow it again after that, but he would’ve at least tried. 

Tried to be more than friends with the woman he loved. 

Natsu had to admit though that his hope to find the key within a reasonable amount of time was dwindling rapidly. He was quite the optimistic guy, and he had a lot of resources around the world, but so far, he came up with absolutely nothing, and it was starting to wear on him. 

No matter where he looked, no matter who he asked, not even the people he recruited for his personal mission, he still came up empty handed. Sadly, he didn’t even have specifics - Aquarius had given Lucy absolutely no clue where to look, so they were basically searching for a needle in a haystack. 

Lucy herself had mostly lost hope a few weeks ago. She hadn’t stopped searching, obviously, but after months of nothing she was a lot less cheerful about the whole ordeal. If they found something worse investigating, she would pursue it, but she never really thought it would lead to anything. 

  
  


When Natsu set foot into the guild this morning he did so with new resolve. He wanted Lucy to find Aquarius’ key, even if he had to step aside to let someone else help her - someone like Levy. 

It had been an idea sitting just on the edge of his consciousness for a few days that he had never pursued further, but this morning it had finally hit him - up until now, they had always searched under the impression that it was either at a noticeable place where strange things were happening or that someone had already found the key. What, though, if it was just lying somewhere, and no signs pointed there?

And what if by chance someone had somewhere took a note of that place for one reason or the other - because it was related to the places where other keys were found, because someone had fought a monster there once upon a time, because the place was just significantly insignificant? Sure, it was grasping at straws, but it at least was an idea, and he’d be damned if he didn’t at least try.

So, since he wasn’t the biggest expert on history or book research, he had the brilliant idea to ask someone else for help - Levy, obviously. He had even decided to tell her about his feelings for Lucy and what he was waiting for before confessing. Not that the bookworm wouldn’t search to the best of her abilities if it was just a favour for Lucy, but... He knew how much the solid script mage wanted them together and some additional incentive wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Luckily, Levy was sitting at the bar this morning. Gajeel, Lily and the twins were absent, so Natsu deduced the iron dragon slayer had taken his children on a training exercise once again. He did that all the time, that weirdo.

“Hey, Levy,” he greeted her and she smiled at him as he took a seat next to her. 

“Morning, Natsu. Where’s Lu-Chan?” 

“She’s still sleeping. Say, Levy - do you think you could help us with our search? I had an idea...”

By the time Lucy dozily trudged into the guild two hours later with Happy in tow, they were deep into the research - or at least Levy was. Natsu was mostly just complaining about it being boring, but the bookworm wasn’t too surprised by that, and hey, he at least didn’t complain whenever she asked him to collect some books for the library or to get her a coffee. 

“Lu-Chan! Perfect timing! I found something!” 

Lucy immediately looked more awake than she did a minute ago and even Natsu, slumping in his seat before, sat up and gave her his undivided attention. 

“So, we know the spirits have their own mind, right? Especially Aquarius. So it got me thinking - what if instead of wanting to be found, she intentionally keeps strangers from finding her?” Levy explained eagerly, her eyes shining with excitement. Both the celestial spirit mage and the dragon slayer nodded, so she continued.

“There is a lake up in the mountains near Mount Hakobe, Lake Nic. It’s completely insignificant, there’s hundreds of those around the area, but that’s the point: most of the others have some kind of religious meaning or healing capabilities or are significant in some way. Additionally, for a few months now, navigational systems seem to actively lead travellers around it, but no one found that particularly meaningful since that lake has been investigated multiple times. There’s nothing there.”

“Or at least, there wasn’t…” Lucy murmured, unshed tears swimming in the corner or her eyes and Natsu had the urge to pull her into a hug. 

“Aquarius has to be there!”, Happy screamed, sprouting his wings and flying around the guild in obvious joy. The little Exceed knew of Natsu’s plans and for some reason, he seemingly couldn’t wait until his dragon slayer told Lucy about his feelings. 

His obvious enthusiasm brought a smile to the blonde’s face and Natsu reached over to gently place his hand on hers. “We’ll find her,” he said quietly, trying to meet her gaze but she avoided his eyes. 

“I hope so,” she murmured, but didn’t seem too confident. 

The dragon slayer sighed. He hoped they’d be successful this time. 

_________

  
  


Despite her children and the longer travel, Levy refused to stay at the guild. She left a message for Gajeel with Mira and huffed when Lucy asked if it would be okay with him. 

“Who knows if he will even be back before we are. And if he is and has a problem with it, he’ll get over it.”

They made it to their destination much faster than anticipated, at least from Natsu’s perspective, who spent the train ride with his head in Lucy’s lap and her fingers in his hair, gently massaging his scalp. As soon as they made it to the mountains they were glad they had taken Levy with them, she seemed to have no troubles navigating the area even though for the dragon slayer it kind of all looked the same. 

They took a short break in a cave they found at the foot of the mountain they’d need to climb to get to Lake Nic. Levy made Natsu some fire to snack on while her and Lucy ate some sandwiches they had packed. Happy complained about his fish being half frozen, but everyone pretty much ignored him. 

As soon as they made it halfway up the right mountain Natsu could smell something irregular, something old and salty. It was overlaid by clean water and pinewood, hardly noticeable, but it was there, and it was definitely out of place. He raised his head, his nasal wings quivering. “She’s here,” he said, sharply, and Lucy immediately halted her steps. 

“Are you sure?” she asked, staring at him with something between shock and excitement. He could see the hope bubbling up even though she tried to keep it down. 

He nodded. “Happy, could you fly ahead and search for pine trees?”

“Aye, Sir!” He drew out the _ r _ sound like he always did and was high over them before they even had the chance to react. 

“It’s just a bit further up!” he screamed from his place up in the air and Lucy didn’t even wait for them. She ran on ahead, completely captured by the chance to find her friend. 

Less than ten minutes later they were at the lake. It was significantly less cold than on Mount Hakobe and actually pretty idyllic. Pine trees lined the edge of the waterline and the water was clear and blue. At a first glance, nothing seemed to be out of order, but as he took a deep breath through his nose he knew the key had to be there. The salty smell was still there, even though the lake had freshwater. 

It had been cloudy the whole day, but like the weather had just waited for them the sun came out as they stood there, staring at the water, trying to find what they were searching for. The sunlight hit the water and something on the ground in the middle of the lake shone golden. It was a small, otherwise almost imperceptible speck, but in the bright sunlight it stood out clearly against the deep blue of the water. 

  
“Aquarius,” Lucy choked out and before Natsu had any chance to restrain her, she had already stripped down to her bikini and jumped in. He debated going after her but eventually decided against it - there was no clear immediate danger and if something was to happen, he’d be close enough to save her. 

Not that she needed him to. She was plenty strong on her own. 

When she made it to the bottom of the lake and touched the speck, a bright golden light erupted and the next thing Natsu knew Aquarius stood next to him, Levy and Happy, holding the celestial mage in her arms. 

"Will you finally tell her now?" the spirit asked with a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips as she put Lucy down, like nothing was out of the ordinary. Like she hadn’t just come out of a golden light in the middle of a lake after being missing for months.

Still, he didn't even flinch at her comment. Sure, he wouldn’t have thought it was the first she’d bring up before even saying hello, but - he had actually expected her to watch over Lucy from somewhere. So he really wasn't too surprised she had heard about his plan, especially because it really hadn’t been much of a secret. Sure, he hadn't been prancing it around, but mostly because he didn’t want to risk that Lucy would hear about it. Still, he had compiled quite a list by now… Happy knew, Gray knew, Gildarts of course, Erza, now Levy…

He had all sworn them to secrecy of course but Aquarius was a spirit. She probably had her ways.

Instead of thinking about it any longer he looked over to Lucy and was left breathless. She was clutching the golden key to her chest, and her smile - her smile was so bright it put the sun to shame. It almost blinded him. His heart skipped a beat before picking up with double speed and he stared at her, almost mesmerized.

She had never looked more beautiful to him. 

“Luce -” he croaked out, moving forward, closer to her, as if in trance. Aquarius was still smirking in the background and he could hear Happy chuckle, but he was entirely focussed on Lucy, his best friend, the woman he loved. 

The blonde was clearly confused about his behaviour, about the tone of his voice - not that he could blame her. Even he had noted the desperation that had slipped through.

“Natsu, what -” 

She broke off when she turned towards Aquarius, who was still smirking, just now realizing what the spirit had said. “Wait, what do you mean? Tell me what?”

She looked back and forth between him and Aquarius, obviously trying to understand what was going on.

“Your dragon slayer here wanted to tell you something when you found me,” the water spirit answered, her gaze focussed on Natsu and he gulped. Sure, he had planned on it anyway, but now that the moment was here he could feel his chest tightening.

Instead of panicking he concentrated entirely on her, on her sparkling, brown eyes, her flowery smell - and her smile. Oh, her smile.

“Luce… Do you know how beautiful your smile is?”

“Huh?”

“You have this smile that brightens a room, and it’s so beautiful, but after you lost Aquarius it was just never as bright as before so I promised myself…” 

He took a deep breath, desperately trying to calm down his furiously beating heart. He took a hold of one of her hands and looked into her eyes. 

“I wouldn’t tell you before that smile is back. But now it is and -”

He broke off, unsure how to continue, but she gently squeezed his hand and gave him the assurance he needed, so he decided to just say it.

“Luce, I love you. I’ve loved you for years and never told you cause I couldn’t bring myself to because I didn’t have the courage, and then you lost Aquarius and you weren’t entirely happy so I wanted you to her back first, but... I love you, Luce, and I want to be with you.” His voice was deep and raspy and he didn’t know why or how he kept talking or if his rambling even made any sense, just that he did and that he couldn’t stop until he did. His heart felt like it was being squeezed in his chest when he noticed there were tears in the corner of her eyes now and he bit his lip.

_ I shouldn’t have done this - _

Then, suddenly, the smile was back on her face, as bright as ever, her eyes sparkling with something he was sure was  _ happiness _ -

“Oh, Natsu.”

Before he had the chance to say anything, she dashed forward and the second her lips met his the world around them came to a screeching halt.

He wasn’t sure how, just that suddenly, all that existed were him an her, their hands intertwined and their lips pressed against each other. He savoured the moment and kissed her with everything he had.

When they broke off, gasping for air, the world resumed its movement, but it felt different - like it had been slightly off balance before and now was pushed back into its right axis. Everything was smoother, more stable, and Natsu stared at Lucy in silent wonder. 

“I love you too, Natsu,” she answered with a whisper, and the love in her eyes took him in, captured him, until he was falling, falling,  _ falling _ \- falling into blackness, into the future, where they lived together with Happy in his cottage in the woods, a sparkling ring on her finger and their children running around -

_ Let’s not get ahead of ourselves there, buddy. _

A clapping sound ripped him out of his thoughts and he looked up to find Aquarius clapping at them. Her smile was genuine, this time, and his heart soared in his chest. 

“I see you finally got a boyfriend! And it only took you how many years?” she asked Lucy teasingly and the celestial spirit mage puffed her cheeks. 

“Excuse me, I was  _ occupied _ -”

While they quarreled like Aquarius had never been gone Natsu suddenly had a very excited Exceed in his arms, pressing into his chest, and Levy was right behind him. 

“I’m so happy for you,” she said with a smile on her face. He turned to Lucy, who was still in a discussion with her spirit, but like she had felt his waiting gaze she looked towards him and her eyes met, her expression soft and full of love. 

“Me too,” he whispered and his heart took off as Lucy leaned over to peck him on the lips. 

And it was true. He’d never been happier in his life.


End file.
